Personal care products such as absorbent articles including diapers, training pants, feminine hygiene products (such as sanitary napkins), incontinence articles, and the like are designed to absorb and contain body exudates and are generally single-use or disposable items which are discarded after a relatively short period of time. Such products usually are placed against or in proximity to the wearer's body to absorb and contain the various exudates discharged from the body. All of these products typically include a liquid permeable bodyside liner or cover, a liquid impermeable outer cover or backsheet, and an absorbent structure disposed between the bodyside liner and outer cover. The absorbent structure may include an acquisition distribution layer (ADL) positioned between a bodyside liner and an absorbent core.
Desirably, personal care absorbent products exhibit low leakage from the product and a dry feel for the wearer. It has been found that urination can occur at rates as high as 15 to 20 ml/sec and at velocities as high as 280 ml/sec. An absorbent article, such as a diaper or incontinence article, may fail by leaking from the leg, front or back waist areas. The inability for an absorbent article to rapidly uptake liquid can also result in excessive pooling of liquid on the body-facing surface of the bodyside liner before the liquid is taken up by the absorbent article. Such pooled liquid can wet the wearer's skin and can leak from leg or waist openings of the absorbent article, causing discomfort, potential skin health issues, as well as soiling of the clothing or bedding of the wearer.
Leakage and pooling can result from a variety of performance deficiencies due to the design structure of the product or materials used within the product. One cause of such problem is an insufficient rate of liquid intake into the absorbent core, which functions to absorb and retain body exudates. Another is that the products resulting are bulky and uncomfortable and are not used efficiently. In many instances, substantial portions of the absorbent layer are not used at all reducing the efficiency of the absorbent system. The liquid intake of a given absorbent article, therefore, and particularly the bodyside liner and ADL materials used, must meet or exceed the expected liquid delivery rates into the absorbent article.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the foregoing issues by improving the ADL which should have fast intake of fluid, the ability to distribute fluid throughout the majority of the material, and be able to quickly transfer the fluid to the underlying absorbent core. Fast intake and good distribution helps pull the fluid away from the body side liner for enhanced skin dryness and helps to utilize more of the underlying absorbent core to attain a more efficient and effective absorbent system. The ADL should function as a temporary reservoir to help contain fluid surges and efficiently and effectively drive the fluid into the majority of the core.